Kansas State
University has joined with various community colleges to offer 2+2 programs
that put students on track to attain their educational goals, even when
geographic restrictions exist.

Students
can complete an associate degree through their local community college
and then complete an entirely distance-based bachelor's degree through
K-State.

The flexibility
of K-State's bachelor programs eliminates the barriers that often prevent
individuals from attaining higher education, said Betty Stevens, K-State
associate vice provost for technology partnerships and associate dean
of continuing education. A distance-based program allows students to reside
in the location of their choice and work full time, if desired. The agreements
create a visual guide for community college students to plan their transfer
to a degree completion program at K-State.

"The
purpose of the agreements is to help nontraditional, place-bound students
plan for a bachelor's degree program that involves both the community
colleges and K-State," Stevens said. Curriculum guides are formulated
for students all the time, but now with the 2+2 agreements, this planning
is done in advance.

"The
students would have had to do it anyway, but now we're doing the planning
in advance," she said. "It just makes it easier for students
to plan for their bachelor's degree at K-State now that they can visualize
what they need to do and when."

This is a
new opportunity offered by K-State and community colleges and is already
expanding and growing, Stevens said.

K-State has
partnerships in the works with Allen County Community College, Coffeyville
Community College, Johnson County Community College and Kansas City (Kan.)
Community College, for degrees varying from food science to general business,
and from family studies to social sciences. In addition, K-State has already
signed 2+2 agreements with Hutchinson Community College, Barton County
Community College, Colby Community College and Seward County Community
College, as well as Austin Community College in Texas.

The signed
2+2 agreements include:

Barton
County Community College
Dietetics coordinated bachelor's degree
Dietetics didactic bachelor's degree
General business bachelor's degree
General business and economics bachelor's degree

Barton
County Community College at Ft. Riley
Interdisciplinary social science bachelor's degree

Colby
Community College
Arts and general business bachelor's degree
General business bachelor's degree
General studies and general business bachelor's degree

Hutchinson
Community College
General business bachelor's degrees:
Accounting associate degree
Business administration associate degree
General business associate degree

Seward
County Community College
General business bachelor's degree

Austin
Community College in Austin, Texas
General business bachelor's degree

Stevens said
the 2+2 agreements benefit students, K-State and the community colleges.

"The
agreement makes our degree programs more easily accessible to students
who otherwise couldn't do them," Stevens said. "We're not looking
at a large number of students, but we're making it possible for some students
who need this option.

"It
benefits the community colleges because it encourages students to complete
their associate degree before transferring to K-State," Stevens said.
"We've worked it out to make it clear that this is to the student's
advantage.

"We
will be seeing many more of these agreements throughout the state and
outside of the state," she said. "All the community colleges
we've talked to have been very excited about the idea."